Structure design and thermal-hydraulic performances study on tube-on-sheet heat exchanger

Abstract

A numerical investigation is performed to study the thermal-hydraulic performances of tube-on-sheet heat exchanger. Especially, this paper is focused on the effects of the structure parameters (fin angles, fin lengths, fin pitches, fin widths, and tube arc radius) on the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger optimized structural parameters are obtained. The results reveal that main structure parameters on thermal-hydraulic performance are fin angle, fin length, fin pitch, and fin width. Furthermore, decreasing the fin angle, fin pitch, and fin width or increasing the fin length cause thermal hydraulic performance to increase. In addition, main structure parameters on low temperature corrosion are tube arc radius and fin length. Decreasing the tube arc radius and fin length can mitigate low temperature corrosion. Furth, stainless steel is choosing as the material for the heat exchanger to reduce corrosion.